Léo Ortiz responds to José Boto: Filipe Luís always gave us freedom | OneFootball

Léo Ortiz stated that the freedom given by Filipe Luís was the same as in 2025

The way in which Filipe Luís’s dismissal happened took the Flamengo players by surprise last week. In the meantime, Léo Ortiz countered the statement made by Flamengo’s football director, José Boto, following the departure of the former coach.

In summary, Léo Ortiz questioned: “If there was a problem, why wasn’t it mentioned before? Why wait until Filipe Luís left to tell the players?” Afterwards, the defender went on to talk about the freedom that Filipe Luís always gave to the players.

— I say this calmly: Filipe always gave us freedom, and it was in this way that we won everything last year. Either you believe in this approach or you don’t. You can’t only believe when you win. Filipe always gave us freedom, but he never stopped demanding from us, from the youngest to the oldest. It’s no coincidence everything he achieved -, he said.

What happened?

José Boto gave a brief speech before Flamengo’s training session last Tuesday afternoon (03), after Filipe Luís’s dismissal. In his speech, the football director gathered the players and made it clear that the athletes also bore responsibility for the coach’s departure.

On that occasion, José Boto stated that the Flamengo players did not know how to take advantage of the freedom given by Filipe Luís. However, according to Léo Ortiz, it is not possible to believe in a work methodology only when you win.

What did José Boto say?

“Yesterday (early Tuesday morning, the 3rd), I did something I had never done before, and I don’t do it because I don’t believe the coach is the only one to blame for a bad moment. It’s me, the board, and it’s you too, because some of you didn’t know how to respect Filipe’s more liberal leadership. When you are given freedom, responsibility is expected in return. And some of you abused the freedom that Filipe gave you, you were irresponsible.

For the players who are pissed off because they think they should have higher salaries: the only way to get that is what Arrasca did, who was pissed off last year because he wanted a contract renewal mid-year, and what did he do? He delivered on the field and showed he deserved it. When we wanted to renew, he asked for more than he had before and we had to give it to him!

Guilty? We all are! The president, me, and you too! Now a new coach will come and there’s only one way: work and win.”

According to the Portuguese director’s view, some athletes have been concerned only with improving their own contracts, without showing the performance to justify it. It’s worth mentioning that Boto’s speech was poorly received by the group, who left the meeting room without even responding to the director.

Why was Filipe Luís dismissed?

In summary, the relationship between Filipe Luís and Bap, president of Flamengo, began to deteriorate back in December 2025. That’s because the handling of the coach’s contract renewal turned into a soap opera at the time.

Furthermore, the early return of the professional squad in the 2026 season also caused major disagreements between Filipe Luís and Bap. All of this, combined with Flamengo’s poor performance on the pitch, made the situation unsustainable.

In fact, Bap wanted to dismiss Filipe Luís after the runner-up finish in the Recopa Sudamericana against Lanús (ARG) last Thursday (26). However, at that time, Flamengo had not yet secured a replacement, so the decision was postponed.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.